Stock Footage

Most rock-history documententaries recycle the same stock footage and interview the same musicians. PBS' Rock & Roll (9 p.m. WXEL-Ch. 42; 10 p.m., WPBT-Ch. 2) breaks new ground by appropriating ideas from two far-flung sources: MTV, and Rock School, an old PBS series of music-instruction videos. From MTV, Rock & Roll borrowed the idea that rock music on TV can be accompanied by seemingly unrelated images. When stock film wasn't available for a song that the producers of Rock & Roll wanted to higlight, they filmed - atmospherically, rhythmically, effectively - a street or club scene that expressed the music's mood.

TV is developing a love affair with Palm Beach, but it's only a long-distance relationship. For a second season, the county is the setting for a prime-time series. However, Privileged takes the approach of last year's Cane: Palm Beach is OK to talk about, but not to spend any time. A second film unit might show up occasionally to shoot exterior scene-setters - more likely the show will just buy stock footage - but there's as much chance of the cast coming to South Florida as there is of Rosie O'Donnell being invited to spend the holidays at Donald Trump's place.

Admittedly, nature-adventure films produced by the venerable Walt Disney Studios tend to be critic-proof. After all, solid G-rated family films with wholesome story lines and a penchant for non-violence and a moral at the finale are hard to come by. Yet, one cannot really put Disney`s latest foray into family-oriented, flora- and-fauna fun, Cheetah, in the same catagory with Old Yeller, Big Red or even That Darn Cat. Although filmed on location in...

Robert Guenette, an Emmy Award-winning documentarian who pioneered depicting great events in history as if they had been filmed by modern newsreel cameras with productions such as They've Killed President Lincoln and The Crucifixion of Jesus, has died. He was 68. Mr. Guenette, co-founder of the International Documentary Association and the Los Angeles Media & Education Center, died of brain cancer Friday. During his 50-year career as an editor, writer, director and producer, Mr. Guenette made hundreds of hours of documentaries that have appeared on the three major networks, PBS, HBO and Showtime and in syndication.

Robert Guenette, an Emmy Award-winning documentarian who pioneered depicting great events in history as if they had been filmed by modern newsreel cameras with productions such as They've Killed President Lincoln and The Crucifixion of Jesus, has died. He was 68. Mr. Guenette, co-founder of the International Documentary Association and the Los Angeles Media & Education Center, died of brain cancer Friday. During his 50-year career as an editor, writer, director and producer, Mr. Guenette made hundreds of hours of documentaries that have appeared on the three major networks, PBS, HBO and Showtime and in syndication.

TV is developing a love affair with Palm Beach, but it's only a long-distance relationship. For a second season, the county is the setting for a prime-time series. However, Privileged takes the approach of last year's Cane: Palm Beach is OK to talk about, but not to spend any time. A second film unit might show up occasionally to shoot exterior scene-setters - more likely the show will just buy stock footage - but there's as much chance of the cast coming to South Florida as there is of Rosie O'Donnell being invited to spend the holidays at Donald Trump's place.

You want film of old movie stars? Animals applauding? Jungles? Waterfalls? Undersea shots? Footage of more than 60 specific destinations? These were just a few recent requests that advertising agencies brought to The Image Bank, one of the world's most extensive libraries of stock film and photographs. "Whatever anybody wants, if it's not here, we'll find it," said Pierre Bisaillon, general manager of the South Florida Image Bank. His office opened last month in the Emerald Hills section of Hollywood to serve advertising agencies, corporations and production companies in Florida and the Caribbean.

John Lennon Remembered pre-empts regular CBS programming tonight at 9 on WTVJ-Ch. 4. The one-hour special, billed as "the first television documentary ever produced about the life and death of the famous Beatle," is mostly a succession of interviews. Record producer George Martin, Beatles Paul McCartney and George Harrison, agent Alan Williams and Lennon`s son, Julian, are among those who share their memories with the interviewers. There is also a ton of newsreel and stock footage. The bad news: Wolfman Jack, an icon of the pre-Beatles `50s, is the host.

The list of great hunting movies is a short one, mainly because Hollywood has little interest in the sport. And when it does attempt to portray hunting, Hollywood usually gets it wrong, substituting stock footage of a red stag for a white-tailed deer or having people use inappropriate gear. One of the few films that got things right was Deliverance, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last month. Deliverance was not a hunting movie, but it featured bowhunting gear that played a major role in the film.

The flower-child innocence of San Francisco's 1960s counterculture spawned the bawdy, often naked, LSD-laced stage phenomenon called the Cockettes. Co-directors David Weissman and Bill Weber trace the group from its spontaneous and joyful inception to a just-as-unlikely implosion from success and bickering over money. This loose band of flamboyantly costumed dancing queens was made up mostly of gay men, but also a few women and a handful of straight guys. All were hippies fully committed to exploring an alternative and communal lifestyle.

Most rock-history documententaries recycle the same stock footage and interview the same musicians. PBS' Rock & Roll (9 p.m. WXEL-Ch. 42; 10 p.m., WPBT-Ch. 2) breaks new ground by appropriating ideas from two far-flung sources: MTV, and Rock School, an old PBS series of music-instruction videos. From MTV, Rock & Roll borrowed the idea that rock music on TV can be accompanied by seemingly unrelated images. When stock film wasn't available for a song that the producers of Rock & Roll wanted to higlight, they filmed - atmospherically, rhythmically, effectively - a street or club scene that expressed the music's mood.

You want film of old movie stars? Animals applauding? Jungles? Waterfalls? Undersea shots? Footage of more than 60 specific destinations? These were just a few recent requests that advertising agencies brought to The Image Bank, one of the world's most extensive libraries of stock film and photographs. "Whatever anybody wants, if it's not here, we'll find it," said Pierre Bisaillon, general manager of the South Florida Image Bank. His office opened last month in the Emerald Hills section of Hollywood to serve advertising agencies, corporations and production companies in Florida and the Caribbean.

Admittedly, nature-adventure films produced by the venerable Walt Disney Studios tend to be critic-proof. After all, solid G-rated family films with wholesome story lines and a penchant for non-violence and a moral at the finale are hard to come by. Yet, one cannot really put Disney`s latest foray into family-oriented, flora- and-fauna fun, Cheetah, in the same catagory with Old Yeller, Big Red or even That Darn Cat. Although filmed on location in...

A lot of big-name movie directors got their start in television, but until Steven Spielberg created Amazing Stories last year, few returned to it. Yet this country`s two biggest directors made forays into television in the `50s and early `60s. Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford quietly directed segments of weekly series during slack periods in their movie careers. In Hitchcock`s case, it was understandable; the series he directed was Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Ford`s TV work was sporadic.

Take hotshot funny man Tim Conway, blend in Harvey Korman, Jack Weston and Ted Wass, and stir briskly with Stella Stevens and Jonathan Winters. You get a sure-fire comedy, right? Think again. The Longshot, written by Conway and directed by Paul Bartel, will leave you bloodshot. It doesn`t take much jockeying into position to take a few potshots at this old nag of a comedy. The film`s premise isn`t half bad: Four down-and-out buddies, who lose at cards, betting on football games and with their wives, borrow money from the syndicate to bet on a horse.